June 23. Wednesday.

This Forenoon, fell strangely, yet very easily into Conversation with M.M.

I went up to him—M.M. said I, how many Persons have you in your { 391 } Train and that of the Chevalier who speak the German Language?— Only my Servant, said
he, besides myself and the Chev[alier].—It will be a great Advantage to you said I in America, especially in Pensilvania,
to be able to speak German. There is a great Body of Germans in P[ennsylvania] and M[aryland]. There is a vast Proportion of the City of Philadelphia, of this Nation who have
their Churches in it, two of which one Lutheran the other Calvinist, are the largest
and most elegant Churches in the City, frequented by the most numerous Congregations,
where the Worship is all in the German Language.

Is there not one Catholic, said M.M.?—Not a German Church said I. There is a Roman
catholic Church in Philadelphia, a very decent Building, frequented by a respectable
Congregation, consisting partly of Germans, partly of French and partly of Irish.—All
Religions are tolerated in America, said M.M., and the Ambassadors have in all Courts
a Right to a Chappell in their own Way. But Mr. Franklin never had any.—No said I,
laughing, because Mr. F. had no—I was going to say, what I did not say, and will not
say here. I stopped short and laughed.—No, said Mr. M., Mr. F. adores only great Nature,
which has interested a great many People of both Sexes in his favour.—Yes, said I,
laughing, all the Atheists, Deists and Libertines, as well as the Philosophers and
Ladies are in his Train—another Voltaire and Hume. —Yes said Mr. M., he is celebrated
as the great Philosopher and the great Legislator of America.—He is said I a great
Philosopher, but as a Legislator of America he has done very little. It is universally
believed in France, England and all Europe, that his Electric Wand has accomplished
all this Revolution but nothing is more groundless. He has [done]1 very little. It is believed that he made all the American Constitutions, and their
Confederation. But he made neither. He did not even make the Constitution of Pensylvania,
bad as it is. The Bill of Rights is taken almost verbatim from that of Virginia, which
was made and published two or three Months before that of Philadelphia was begun.
It was made by Mr. Mason, as that of Pensilvania was by Timothy Matlack, James Cannon
and Thomas Young and Thomas Paine. Mr. Sherman of Connecticutt2 and Dr. F. made an Essay towards a Confederation about the same Time. Mr. Shermans
was best liked, but very little was finally adopted from either, and the real Confederation
was not made untill a Year after Mr. F. left America, and but a few Days before I
left Congress.

Who, said the Chevalier, made the Declaration of Independance?— Mr. Jefferson of Virginia,
said I, was the Draughtsman. The Committee consisted of Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Franklin,
Mr. Harrison, Mr. R. { 392 } and myself,3 and We appointed [Mr.]4 Jefferson a subcommittee to draw it up.

I said that Mr. Franklin had great Merit as a Philosopher. His Discoveries in Electricity
were very grand, and he certainly was a Great Genius, and had great Merit in our American
Affairs. But he had no Title to the Legislator of America.

Mr. M. said he had Wit and Irony, but these were not the Faculties of Statesmen. His
Essay upon the true Means of bring[ing] a great Empire to be a small one was very pretty.—I said he had wrote many Things,
which had great Merit and infinite Wit and Ingenuity. His bonhomme Richard was a very
ingenious Thing, which had been so much celebrated in France, gone through so many
Editions, and been recommended by Curates and Bishops to so many Parishes and Diocesses.

Mr. M. asked, are natural Children admitted in America to all Priviledges like Children
born in Wedlock.—I answered they are not Admitted to the Rights of Inheritance. But
their fathers may give them Estates by Testament and they are not excluded from other
Advantages.—In France, said M.M., they are not admitted into the Army nor any Office
in Government.—I said they were not excluded from Commissions in the Army, Navy, or
State, but they were always attended with a Mark of Disgrace.—M.M. said this, No doubt,
in Allusion to Mr. Fs. natural Son and natural Son of a natural Son. I let myself
thus freely into this Conversation being led on naturally by the Chevalier and Mr.
Marbois, on Purpose because I am sure it cannot be my Duty nor the Interest of my
Country that I should conceal any of my sentiments of this Man, at the same Time that
I due5 Justice to his Merits. It would be worse than Folly to conceal my Opinion of his
great Faults.

2. A mistake for Dickinson of Pennsylvania, though Sherman was a member of the committee
appointed to draft the Articles, 12 June 1776 (JCC, 5:433). Franklin's rudimentary plan had been submitted to Congress almost a year
earlier, July 1775.

3. A double mistake. The committee appointed on 11 June 1776 to draft a Declaration of
Independence consisted of Jefferson, JA, Franklin, Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston, in that order (same, p. 431). But these
may have been lapses only of JA's pen and not of his tongue or memory; there is plentiful evidence that he wrote
his notes of this conversation when he was sleepy.